A friend tried to bring law and order to his vacation destination. [more inside]

posted by erikgrande at 8:39 PM PST - 3 comments

Came up with this song yesterday, and I sort of like it. A departure. [more inside]

posted by tmcw at 7:21 PM PST - 4 comments

A song starring Dee Wallace Stone with cortex on piano. [more inside]

posted by sleepy pete at 12:47 PM PST - 13 comments

Hand clap, face slap, jaw harp and voice. For the August LYRIC Challenge (thanks for the inspiration, loquacious). NOTE: This is a pretty bare bones arrangement, so anyone wanting to add a track, please feel free to download and monkey with it. Could use some low end, for example... [more inside]

posted by flapjax at midnite at 12:20 AM PST - 8 comments

A song about storms, levees, and floods. A new song. [more inside]

posted by Astro Zombie at 12:10 AM PST - 5 comments

This song liberally samples a song by Beri Saharof by the same name. What you never heard of Beri Saharof? Check him out, he's pretty good, sings mostly in hebrew, what with him being israeli. I discovered his music in an excellent movie called Saint Clara, good luck finding that one! This one sounds especially good in a car once the bass line kicks in.

posted by Sir Mildred Pierce at 4:08 PM PST - 1 comments

Just a tune I was playing. Gives me a feel like it could be in a movie scene. [more inside]

posted by american caesar at 6:52 PM PST - 1 comments

Sort of a cheating entry to the wildcard challenge - a flowy, stringy instrumental. [more inside]

posted by ORthey at 3:16 PM PST - 8 comments

For the MeFi Music Challenge: Here is a happy little song about insects for the education and edification of children. [more inside]

posted by Karlos the Jackal at 11:05 PM PST - 8 comments

Water as escapism.

posted by chococat at 9:52 PM PST - 3 comments

Recorded live in my living room on Monday night, the debut episode of this four-song, one-take podcast is my way of making sure I DO something with the piano in the corner. Each song fits a certain theme (this episode, it's Tom Waits covers), and there are no re-takes or edits allowed. It's the Pianimal -- and it's ALIVE! [more inside]

posted by Milkman Dan at 8:55 PM PST - 2 comments

My band recorded this in my basement the night before our show at the blind pig. (The second song is Wasted Hearts.)

posted by Tlogmer at 5:08 PM PST - 0 comments

I don't know what you did for summer vacation, but I went back to 1984 and played walkie talkies with my friend Don! Awesome! [more inside]

posted by snsranch at 5:05 PM PST - 7 comments

This song has a feel I haven't easily been able to reproduce since recording it. I can barely play the song live. Despite some horrific essing, probably my favorite home recording.

posted by kingbenny at 8:18 AM PST - 10 comments

Because it's not finished until there's a white guy pretending to be a gospel choir.

posted by cortex at 6:00 PM PST - 17 comments

Yeah, I know, covers are discouraged. I just wanted to give this one a try... [more inside]

posted by punkbitch at 12:02 PM PST - 11 comments

Probably my best song on my new album "Objects in Space". One of the few songs I've ever sung on. Excellent turntable work by E_B_A. You can download this, and any of my music at my website popamericana.com/76.

posted by Sir Mildred Pierce at 1:31 AM PST - 5 comments

Just a song I came up with and then recorded myself.

posted by Paid In Full at 6:25 PM PST - 6 comments

Here's a first crack at adding a little gospel organ. [more inside]

posted by umbú at 2:56 PM PST - 4 comments

to be played at loud volumes... [more inside]

posted by god particle at 2:34 PM PST - 2 comments

Just added a little vocal harmony, is all.

posted by flapjax at midnite at 12:32 PM PST - 6 comments

Cortex has given me a taste of MuFi collaboration, and I like it. This is a simply acoustic country gospel ballad about sin and possible redemption. Anyone is welcome to download it and contribute. [more inside]

posted by Astro Zombie at 10:50 AM PST - 9 comments

This is a quick little song I recorded last year for my album-in-a-month Manifests. I didn't really plan to post this one here, but then BrnP84 went and blew my freakin' mind and I didn't feel like I had a choice. [more inside]

posted by cortex at 7:42 PM PST - 4 comments

I went to the dentist today and had two cavities filled, my face was pretty numb so I used this as an opportunity to expand on my vocal range.

posted by BrnP84 at 9:10 AM PST - 7 comments

MuFi music challenge Wildcar, inspired by DaveJay's most recent post. Clocked random, found a comment, made a song. The comment is this one: It's saying that African tragedy gets measured by a different yardstick. Way over here in the land of Paris and Lindsey, it does.

posted by Astro Zombie at 9:52 PM PST - 4 comments

Every word (and emoticon) from this random MetaTalk post, circa October 2006. [more inside]

posted by davejay at 8:42 PM PST - 8 comments

Lost chapters in American history, episode one: a rivalry between two founding fathers takes a shocking and scandalous turn. [more inside]

posted by umbú at 9:41 AM PST - 10 comments

Taking Astro Zombie's ballad and running with it: here's a quick-and-dirty shades-of-Cash musical interpretation of one hell of a story.

posted by cortex at 10:00 PM PST - 33 comments

A spoken word piece inspired by ColdChef's post about a Slidell boy who lost his arm battling a monstrous alligator. [more inside]

posted by Astro Zombie at 5:25 PM PST - 14 comments

modular, snap-tite interlock pop. A song about recording alone.

posted by umbú at 9:05 PM PST - 10 comments

dub dub

posted by god particle at 12:22 PM PST - 9 comments

This was my first home studio song [more inside]

posted by american caesar at 10:59 PM PST - 4 comments

Everybody starts from scratch and grows into musicianhood. I'm wondering if folks would be interested in putting together something like short personal histories of how they got from not-a-musician to where they are now. [more inside] posted by cortex at 10:31 AM PST - 24 comments

For a soldier who wants his girl back. [more inside]

posted by BrnP84 at 11:57 PM PST - 3 comments

I wrote this song around 1992 or 1993, wanting it to be a guitar song even though I hadn't really picked up the instrument. I re-recorded it recently, using a lot of the original arrangement from my cassette demo, and it's not working for me. So I'd like some feedback. [more inside]

posted by NemesisVex at 7:15 PM PST - 6 comments

from Bizet's opera Carmen. Recorded with pianist Andy Kraus in the heat and humidity of a DC summer. [more inside]

posted by Pallas Athena at 5:05 PM PST - 13 comments

A country blues song about love and loss on the road to Los Angeles. A new song. [more inside]

posted by Astro Zombie at 7:37 PM PST - 4 comments

In 1987, I wrote this cornball song from the POV of a proud and friendly ant, but never recorded it until now. [more inside]

posted by AppleSeed at 7:22 PM PST - 3 comments

Since there's a chiptune thread going on, I figured I'd show y'all that Game Boys don't have all the fun! Here's one of the tracks I performed at last year's Blip Festival, written under the constraints of the Neo Geo arcade system -- very much a classic "chiptune" machine, even though it featured snazzy FM synthesis and limited PCM waveform data. [more inside]

posted by jake at 12:31 PM PST - 11 comments

Chiptune melodies falling into a mess of ambience, noise and everything in between. [more inside]

posted by naju at 11:36 AM PST - 3 comments

A claustrophobic, fast bus ride through the hills of San Francisco. Please hold on. [more inside]

posted by loquacious at 2:53 AM PST - 9 comments

Won't someone think of the children? And techno? ...wiggle wiggle wiggle... (NSFW: one word @ 2'53") [more inside]

posted by lothar at 1:52 PM PST - 3 comments

A new song. A tale of love and addiction. [more inside]

posted by Astro Zombie at 11:16 PM PST - 1 comments

Would like to collaborate with someone who can do hip hop. [more inside] posted by sluglicker at 8:29 PM PST - 3 comments

Another Saladabar song. This is a rough mix of a song we were asked to cover for a compilation of 80s Japanese rock songs. [more inside]

posted by mexican at 8:06 PM PST - 4 comments

This is my take on a beautiful Daniel Johnston song that I learned from melissa may and sleepy pete. [more inside]

posted by cortex at 7:20 AM PST - 17 comments

Three merged takes showing (hopefully) the evolution of a song [more inside]

posted by Jofus at 4:32 AM PST - 7 comments

A tender ballad from my upcoming album [more inside]

posted by jimofferman at 3:34 AM PST - 2 comments

A new song. An uncommonly bleak and maudlin crime tale. [more inside]

posted by Astro Zombie at 10:04 PM PST - 1 comments

I love seeing how people take the germ of an idea they've had and mold it into a song. I'd be really interested in seeing peoples' processes, illustrated with before and after recordings. [more inside] posted by chococat at 9:22 PM PST - 21 comments

Kinda country plus the Cure. the song's about Einstein and Uri Geller and serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, and the shady little place they all meet. [more inside]

posted by es_de_bah at 7:44 PM PST - 3 comments

This is a song from the same love differrent pain series.

posted by american caesar at 7:14 PM PST - 3 comments

How many times have you asked yourself, "Where are all the jazz tunes about squid?" [more inside]

posted by lothar at 4:14 PM PST - 20 comments

are you a believer in osmosis?

posted by kimyo at 2:47 AM PST - 7 comments

Anyone ever successfully taught themselves to throat sing? Are there any throat singers here at all? [more inside] posted by mediocre at 1:24 AM PST - 18 comments

Another cover of a Japanese band, this time from SUPERCAR. (Previously.) This arrangement mimics the version on the album Futurama. [more inside]

posted by NemesisVex at 9:08 PM PST - 2 comments

Can someone help me learn to change the key of a song into something lower and thus more sing-able? For example, I'm trying to learn a song sung by a female artist, and can't hit some of the higher notes. What can i do to change the chords of the song so i can sing it. [more inside] posted by ashaw at 7:43 AM PST - 15 comments

This was a quick reflection of thought add libbed [more inside]

posted by american caesar at 8:26 PM PST - 3 comments

One of my own pieces for a change. Features some offbeat harmonies. Instrumental, two acoustic guitars. [more inside]

posted by danb at 9:34 AM PST - 10 comments

A song written and recorded on my Tascam Porta-05 sometime around 1992-3. I've slowed it down about 25% to give it a more lazy feel. Mostly about music and how I feel about it. [more inside]

posted by not_on_display at 8:16 PM PST - 9 comments

A late-night experiment in three-part harmony, which isn't a good idea since I'm not much of a singer, if the warbly low notes are any indication. It's an even worse idea when it's a cover of a song performed by Hajime Chitose, who really can sing. [more inside]

posted by NemesisVex at 7:24 AM PST - 5 comments

It's about those times when you realize the only one you can change is yourself. A new pop/rock tune I just released today. [more inside]

posted by scottandrew at 1:09 AM PST - 10 comments

Hip-hop style beat orginally intended for a remix, but I think it holds up on its own. [more inside]

posted by sputgop at 9:20 PM PST - 10 comments

Just driving to get away, relatively boring lofi live to tape.

posted by plexi at 6:40 PM PST - 3 comments

Happiness [more inside]

posted by american caesar at 11:50 PM PST - 4 comments

Another one from my friend Matt and I. Instrumental, two acoustic guitars. [more inside]

posted by danb at 4:40 PM PST - 11 comments

I pretty much stole the first two chords and arrangement of this song from a Japanese indie band called Dr.StrangeLove. To mitigate that theft, I did the chorus in the style of BBMak.

posted by NemesisVex at 12:49 PM PST - 5 comments

It's about a bug who likes casseroles. No instrumentation because I don't play anything.

posted by cog_nate at 8:38 AM PST - 9 comments

Jumping in on Mediocre's thread asking for songs in need of lyrics, here's one. Recorded this quite a long time ago and never came up with any words. Listening back it sounds to me a bit like a cross between early 70's Beach Boys and "Your Mother Should Know" if that makes any sense.

posted by gfrobe at 3:19 AM PST - 11 comments

I have a cheap mic that plugs in to my computer. Now what? [more inside] posted by prefpara at 6:12 PM PST - 19 comments

An arrangement of a great poem by headspace. [more inside]

posted by umbú at 5:09 PM PST - 8 comments

This song is a very hard song to discribe. Seeing that we dont really know each other I feel I can blurt out the real meaning here of this song in this forum so to speak. Its very personal song. My daughter got her self pregnant and she wasnt ready. I pleaded please have the baby we can work through this it will be ok. I thought she was going to be with me in this and my wishes. We were on good terms and our relationship was that of divorse myself in Mi and her in Tx even though I was in her life I wasnt there as much as I should have been. Anyway we talked of this and then for some reason she cut me out. I called and I called and I called my X wife, she was on the was to Dallas with no phone to get a abortion. I had no way to stop her. This was my first grandchild being ripped out of my life. It happened I cant change that. That nite I sat down in a chair and spit out these words. Its all I have let to remind me that my grand child was. They killed a part of me that day. Im in more contact and still love my daughter very very much. We all make mistakes and bad choices. Anyway I wrote this song about you where ever you may be. Maybe sitting on my lap right now and I dont even know it. My daughter has not heard this.

posted by american caesar at 1:54 PM PST - 4 comments

Another SongFight! entry. Features children's instruments, plucked ukulele and my best impression of a man who's going to die of a head cold. [more inside]

posted by davejay at 11:19 AM PST - 3 comments

I am a morning person. My girlfriend, not so much. [more inside]

posted by dobie at 11:08 AM PST - 7 comments

My take on Jofus's cowboy epic. Although I think a song like this demands additional production that I am not able to provide. By all means, feel free to download it, add whip cracking and horse hooves and banshee moans, or swirling guitars, or whatever else might epic this bad boy up.

posted by Astro Zombie at 9:34 AM PST - 8 comments

I've just discovered Buzz. I had heard of it before, but never tried it; I moved straight from traditional trackers to Fruity Loops / Audiomulch. But now I think I'm hooked, and this is my first effort in it, a bleepy little beat.

posted by Jimbob at 4:26 AM PST - 6 comments

A song for a special girl. Solo GarageBand piano, some wrong(?!) notes, lots of suspendy chords. [more inside]

posted by those are my balloons at 7:59 PM PST - 6 comments

More three part me... Took the arrangement from the Wailin' Jennys [more inside]

posted by ibfrog at 7:54 PM PST - 6 comments

Sigh. This surfaced last night when we found a cache of very old CDs in our practice space. This is a relic from when my band was much younger, with a different name (Grumpy Alice... you can see why we changed it), different sound, different attitude, etc. This song... well, I like the dialog section in the middle...

posted by COBRA! at 8:52 AM PST - 6 comments

Where to start? I used to be a real drinker. Talking hard core at the local bar on the stool pounding the Crown. I dont anymore I was in a accident and I broke my jaw and rippied off half my nose. Knocked out 9 teeth. Even got the pleasure of a trake hole and jaw wired shut for 6 months. All better now thanks to a wonderful plastic surgen and a good cosmedic dentist. Anyway when I wrote this song many many years ago. I was sober for a pretty good stretch it was around Christmas lots of holidays parties. I went to bed knowing the next day I was goning to drink and enjoy some of the holiday spirit with some booze. This was who I was at that time and this was my way of explaining to myself why I fell off the wagon. Ive aways felt that this was one of my best written songs because it relates to so many such as myself. Sober now life is much better than ever so much time wasted learning to just be me even without the magic liquid I loved. Crown and 7.

posted by american caesar at 10:45 PM PST - 3 comments

Awhile ago I spent way too much time reading a thread on the always excellent Marginal Revolution blog discussing possible tactics for dealing with sudden and unwelcome time-travel to 1000 A.D. Clearly the thread needed to be put to music. (OK, it was clear to me at least.) That was so much fun that I thought it might be fun to do it again. And Tyler over at Marginal Revolution was nice enough to participate for another round. Then Tyler announced the topic - “Are Books Overwritten?” Ruh ro. [more inside]

posted by hillelc at 7:54 PM PST - 1 comments

With piano ivories, shimmering vocals and far too much sincerity, I have transmographied the Beastie Boys' energetic party-chant into a mostly miserable, quasi-beautiful, semi-epic, completely human piano ballad. [more inside]

posted by Milkman Dan at 2:44 PM PST - 7 comments

Pimp my GarageBand! Looking for tips and advice on how to make the most of a limited program. [more inside] posted by ORthey at 12:29 PM PST - 12 comments

I threatened to do so, and I have -- a song I wrote when I was around 15 or 16 years old, in the '80s jazz-pop vein of Basia, Sade and Hiroshima. Although I think it's actually more inspired by Tears for Fears. [more inside]

posted by NemesisVex at 8:15 AM PST - 5 comments

I just got some email this morning from Mike Watt, informing of this HUGE heist: virtually all of Iggy and the Stooge's gear was just stolen in Canada. I know it's a long shot that anyone would might know anything about this, or be able to help, but, hey, putting myself in these musician's shoes, I couldn't help but post this here. Watt's bass, for example, is the one he's been playing for years and years. Now, I know this is an unusual post for Music Talk, and if the mods see fit to delete it, so be it. Here's a link to a complete list of everything stolen. posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:31 PM PST - 13 comments

A Paul Simon cover from the same session as Bob-omb Battlefield. Instrumental, two acoustic guitars. [more inside]

posted by danb at 6:16 PM PST - 11 comments

A new song. Sometimes you just find yourself writing a Johnny Cash song. [more inside]

posted by Astro Zombie at 5:32 PM PST - 2 comments

An old New Blind National's song from when we were listening to a lot of Spoon. [more inside]

posted by drezdn at 1:37 PM PST - 2 comments

New rough demo for a live "rock" project [more inside]

posted by arcanecrowbar at 11:28 AM PST - 3 comments

n00b question about laying down multiple tracks with audacity. [more inside] posted by Meatbomb at 9:15 AM PST - 9 comments

German children's tune. [more inside]

posted by Meatbomb at 6:12 AM PST - 3 comments

I was in a band called gleaner in the late 90's and we recorded four songs at a "real" studio. This was an attempt to make a (power)poppy, happy thing about a stalker-y kind of person. This is the second of the two songs from this session that were mine. The first is here. [more inside]

posted by chococat at 12:29 AM PST - 9 comments

I am a Clawhammer banjo player. I have a love for the old time style, but not necessarily old time music, I have been trying to apply the banjo to genres where the 5 string isn't typically found. [more inside] posted by mediocre at 11:45 PM PST - 19 comments

True Story: I was at the bars one night when I kinda pooped my pants (just a little bit). I walked to the Taco Bell across the street and threw my underwear away in the bathroom than came back to the bars before anyone even knew I had left. [more inside]

posted by BrnP84 at 7:56 PM PST - 7 comments

A new song. A New York holiday song from a drunk. [more inside]

posted by Astro Zombie at 10:14 PM PST - 2 comments

Part of my Old Songs project. A cowboy song about a lawman and the murderer who plans to kill him. [more inside]

posted by Astro Zombie at 10:03 PM PST - 1 comments

What is the deal with B strings on guitars? Is it just my ears? Doesn't matter which guitar I'm tuning, when I tune by ear it NEVER sounds right. And then, even with a tuner, I have to adjust it a bit after, I'm never satisfied. Finally sounds good with an Am chord, then you play a C and it's fucked up. Am I insane? posted by chococat at 7:35 PM PST - 31 comments

This season found me in the midst of a little personal crisis and I was sitting idly around the house for long hours. Like me at the time, this doesn't travel too far from where it starts. [more inside]

posted by those are my balloons at 11:12 AM PST - 4 comments

Crunk/Southern Club style head banging high energy hip hop track. All vocals by my normal collaberator, Juicy Karkass, and his buddy Savior of Animal Farm [more inside]

posted by mediocre at 5:19 AM PST - 224 comments